Inside Labrador Fall 2023

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Hebron Relocation New doc shines light on painful past

Battle Harbour Peter Bull photo

From Lab West to LA Actor Shawn Doyle reflects on his Wabush roots

Putting Money on Manganese

Yvonne Jones: Grit & Gratitude

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Published by Downhome Inc. 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 1-888-588-6353 • www.insidelabrador.ca

Editor-in-chief Janice Stuckless

Marketing Director Tiffany Brett

Assistant Editor Nicola Ryan

Publisher and CEO Grant Young

Art Director Vince Marsh

President and Associate Publisher Todd Goodyear

Distribution and Subscription Representative Marlena Grant

General Manager and Assistant Publisher Tina Bromley

Advertising Sales Account Manager Barbara Young Account Manager Ashley O’Keefe

To subscribe, renew or change address use the contact information above.

Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement #40062919 The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due to the negligence of the servants or otherwise, and there shall be no liability beyond the amount of such advertisement.

Pen names and anonymous letters will not be published. The publisher reserves the right to edit, revise, classify, or reject any advertisement or letter. © 2023 Downhome Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher.

Printed in Canada

Official onboard magazine of

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20 table of contents 6 Editor’s Note

46 Chilling Out

8 From Our Readers

48 Pleasure Harbour Days

10 The Best is Yet to Come

50 A Voyage on the Kyle

Finding inspiration in everyday life

14 Around the World and Back A global view on HVGB life

18 Big Land Life 20 Honouring Hebron A Makkovik filmmaker’s tribute

A poetic look way back when

A trip on the coastal boat

52 Funding for the Future Manganese processing plans

54 The Beloved Bakeapple A sweet recipe for savoury dishes

56 Photo Finish

26 Small Scene to the Big Screen Actor, producer and host Shawn Doyle

34 A Beeline to Labrador A career in the Labrador wild

38 Living with Gratitude Catching up with MP Yvonne Jones

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Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Labrador, where once again a community of voices comes together to share their stories.

Stanley Oliver returns with a deeply personal essay and an encouraging message, while new contributor Mason Woodward offers a unique global view on his hometown of Happy ValleyGoose Bay. Echoes of the past reverberate in an interview with Makkovik filmmaker and photographer, Holly Andersen, as she describes the making of Hebron Relocation. Award-winning actor Shawn Doyle takes us back to his childhood in Wabush and his early theatre days. And the pride of Mary’s Harbour, MP Yvonne Jones talks candidly about her experiences with cancer and politics. These stories and more in this issue criss-cross the Big Land and, all together, take us into the past, bring the present into focus and offer glimpses into the future.

Already we’re collecting stories, photos and ideas for our next issue. Want to write for us? Got something you want us to write about? Let us know. Help us really get Inside Labrador.

Thanks for reading, Janice Stuckless Editor-in-chief janice@downhomelife.com

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Everyone has a tale to tell.

And we want to see your stories about Labrador. Maybe it’s a recollection of the way things used to be, or a historical piece, or a story about somebody doing great things in your community.

Maybe it’s a travel story about a trip somewhere in the Big Land. Whatever your story, in verse or in prose, our readers would love to see it and so would we.

If you’re better with a camera than a keyboard, you’re in luck, too - we’re also looking for photos of Labrador. From snapshots while berry picking to compositional studies of the landscape and everything in between, we love looking at your images.

Published submissions will receive $20 in Downhome certificates to spend in our stores and online at www.shopdownhome.com.

Send your photos and stories to editorial@downhomelife.com or upload them to our website at Downhomelife.com/submit.

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From Our Readers Pyramid Monster

While reading the latest edition, I noticed something funny/interesting about the cover photo showing a person fishing from a rock on shore. Look to the land in the background with the sun shining on it and a nice reflection on the water. If you turn that photo 90 degrees to the left you will see very clearly what they call a “Pyramid Head Monster.” You can clearly see the pointed head, hair, two eyes, nose, mouth, chin and neck. Maybe they should name that point “Pyramid Head.”

Love what you guys are doing to showcase the province.

ALVIN ROFF Via email

Interesting/funny observation, Alvin. Can other readers see what Alvin sees?

Found in Our Social Circles X (Twitter) @LabradorCampus

Check out these wonderful @AAFC_Canada agriculture researchers ‘putting their heads together’ for #foodsecurity in Labrador through their work at the #PyeCentre. The quality and the size of these #cabbages are really unbe-leaf-able.

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BY STANLEY OLIVER 10

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There is a theological narrative that offers inspiration

and, to me, continued optimism, which quotes “to make jam from damaged fruit of life.” From my own experience, and with the help of some very close friends and mentors, I offer what I hope is a message of encouragement, comfort and reassurance.

From a physical medical characterization, I am considered a dwarf (or little person), which is defined as a person of short stature caused by a genetic medical condition and who, at adult height, is 4 feet 10 inches or less. I am 4 foot 7 – with my boots on! Further, I have been medically diagnosed with minor achondroplasia, which primarily affects the bone structure of my major joints including my arms, shoulders, hips, ankles and legs.

Over the last decade or so, I’ve had numerous operations to completely replace various joints with artificial parts (titanium alloys, stainless steel and some ceramics). I have had both shoulders replaced, including scapula, humerus, ball joints and sockets; and both knees operated on, including tibia, parts of the femur, patella, cartilage and some ligament/tendon work.

Corrective artificial joint replacement(s) for people unconditionally depend on many factors, such as age, weight, activity level, knee size, shape and overall health; dwarfs can come with very complex medical issues that also need to be considered. I’ve also had less serious procedures, including a gull bladder removal and two carpel tunnel wrist repairs.

In the spring of 2018, I had a major heart attack. As a result of that I now have an artificial valve (referred to as a mechanical valve) in my heart. Not specifically related to dwarfism, but as mentioned, it may make the situation more complex. There are many risks associated with heart valve replacements in general that can compromise the operation and subsequent recovery, such as excessive bleeding during the operation, infections, pneumonia and breathing problems. Wouldn’t you know it? I had all the above. After a nine-hour operation, things didn’t go so well for me. They had to bring me back into the OR for another five hours. We like to say, “I got the two-for-one sale.” I am happy to report that after about eight weeks in two hospitals, I was on the road to recovery and back to work. I had the amazing positive support of my wife, daughter, close longtime friends, Rotarian colleagues and co-workers, which definitely helped me mentally as well as physically. For that I remain forever grateful.

Am I bruised? Yes, on the inside, and only from a physical perspective.

But folks, I remain focused on the good things in my life: the good parts of my body, including my mind, brain and soul, and the belief that I have much to offer and live for. Do I have days where my body is sore and feels worn out? You’re darn right I do. But every day, I put my two feet on the ground, then put one foot in front of the other and keep moving ahead – albeit more slowly on some days.

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I once attended a conference associated with some volunteer work and a young lady shared the following story (which I have adapted with her permission and have shared many times).

The story is related to tattoos and why people might have them. I believe the whole concept of tattoos is misunderstood and is rightly now more acceptable. People get tattoos for different reasons. Some get them for the sheer pleasure of pain (that is not me), some get them in memory of a loved one they lost and some people get

I was not six-foottwo with blue eyes with chiseled abs.

But I was bold and had no trouble speaking in front of a group. My late mum (Aunt Flossie to many) told me to use this ability to its fullest extent. tattoos to signify a special event that happened in their lives. I currently have three for the latter two reasons. I think I will get one more: an image of a fork.

Why a fork? When you sit down to a formal dinner, there are usually several forks for different courses. The one placed in the centre at the top of your plate is meant to be used last for the best part of your meal – the dessert! So, when I am at a formal dinner and look at the forks, it doesn’t matter if the first courses are good or what I prefer. I know the best is yet to come!

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In life we will face many challenges, sorrows and sometimes extreme loss.

We can choose to dwell on the negative, or we can choose to look ahead to sunnier days.

Growing up, I quickly realized that I was not built to play sports nor was I overly intelligent (I managed in high school and post-secondary with lots of hard, steady work). I was not sixfoot-two with blue eyes and chiseled abs. But I was bold and had no trouble speaking in front of a group. My late mum (Aunt Flossie to many) told me to use this ability to its fullest extent.

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club and the student council. I enjoyed being the DJ at a local club. My skill for speaking into a microphone in front of a crowd soon led me to get involved in the community. Volunteer work has been such an important part of my professional development; it opened up opportunities to learn and participate in many forums as well as significant community happenings and initiatives. For that I am also very grateful and appreciative.

So why am I telling you all this? To hopefully encourage you and to share a positive message, especially for anyone who’s struggling. Whenever we come up against challenges in life, we can choose to focus on the dark side of things – or we can choose to make the best of it, take control of the hand dealt to us and believe that the best is yet to come.

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Stanley Oliver was born and raised in Labrador; his father is from the North Coast (Rigolet) and his mother is from North West River. Stan is an Inuit and has spent the last 30 plus years working in the natural resources and Indigenous government field.

He currently holds the position of manager with the Labrador Office of Indigenous and Northern Skilled Trades.

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What it’s like living back home in Happy Valley-Goose Bay after years living abroad

BY MASON WOODWARD

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I was born and raised in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, known

as the Heart of Labrador. It was my entire world – until I realized that the world was so much bigger after I moved away for college. For the next 15 years, I lived in cities as big as Montreal and as far away as Cardiff, Wales. Then in 2020, following the initial COVID-19 outbreak, my priorities shifted.

I quelled my wanderlust and returned to HVGB in 2021.

I’ve been back now for more than two years, and it’s still an adjustment.

While I am glad to be home, there are some things I miss about city life.

Public transportation. I miss buses, subways and trains that’ll get you just about anywhere. Of course, after midnight or so, you still mostly have to rely on taxis and ride shares, but at least you have options. In HVGB, it’s difficult to go anywhere if you don’t own a vehicle, even if you are ablebodied. That leaves many people stuck at home, unable to live full lives with dignity. HVGB is finally supposed to be getting its first public bus this year, so fingers crossed it becomes a reality.

Accessible medical care. In cities, you have your choice of hospitals and

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clinics, both public and private. You can decide who manages your care and gain easier access to specialists.

In Labrador, not so much. In HVGB, there is one public hospital for residents of the town and remote communities. Because of this, a lot of surgeries and specialty cases end up being sent to St. Anthony or St. John’s in Newfoundland, which means outrageous upfront travel costs for those affected. It doesn’t help that flights to and from HVGB are also limited, so there’s a very real chance you might not make it to outside appointments. This is one of the more serious things that keep me – and many other Labradorians – up at night.

Pet stores that sell pets. I am an

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“I lived in Montreal during the height of the pandemic, where I was extremely isolated and felt very alone. ”

Mason on the Birch Island boardwalk in Happy Valley-Goose Bay aquarium hobbyist with an obsession for betta fish (a.k.a. beta fish or Siamese fighting fish). In cities, there are pet store chains and local shops, and in some places, fish club auctions.

But in HVGB, there are no pet stores that sell pets (and I’m still trying to find out where all the local hobbyists are hiding). The nearest store that sells pets is in Labrador City (not an actual city and similar in size to HVGB), a roundtrip of nearly 1,200 kilometres. Having fish shipped in is another hurdle altogether because there is no such thing as overnight 16

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shipping here.

Although I pine for the above (and more) on an almost daily basis, there are good things that have come out of returning to my remote little hometown.

My family. Hands down, the number one reason why I decided to come home was to be close to my family.

Both my parents and my brother, sister-in-law, nephews and grandfather all live here in HVGB. I lived in Montreal during the height of the pandemic, where I was extremely isolated and felt very alone. Now that I FALL 2023

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can see my family whenever I want and don’t fear missing major life events, I am much happier as a whole.

Peace and quiet in nature. Sure, many cities have green spaces to enjoy, but you’re often still very aware that you’re in the city. Meanwhile, HVGB is surrounded by nothing but green space. Just two streets away from where I live is a cliff that shows off a rolling sea of trees, the glistening Terrington Basin and the majestic Mealy Mountains. My favourite place is the Birch Island boardwalk, where you can walk through multiple biomes in one go, including wetlands teeming with wildlife and patches of forest that have been made bare by past wildfires. Although many, many people use the boardwalk every day, you can still walk in one direction and not come across a single soul. You just have to watch out for the odd black bear who might also be enjoying a leisurely stroll!

Community involvement. Because everything had always been at my fingertips when I lived in cities, I took a lot of my privileges and experiences for granted. But when I came back to HVGB and saw areas with room to grow, it ignited the activist in me.

Through this, I’ve met many wonderful, passionate people all fighting for various causes to make HVGB – and the world – a better place. I now feel like I’m a part of something bigger than myself, which I never quite felt anywhere else, especially in cities.

Are my wandering days over? Will I live out the rest of my days here in HVGB? Who knows? I’ve got a long life yet and many more adventures to come. But in my heart, Labrador will always be “home.”

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Goose Bay

www.cfmws.ca

gbmfrc@nf.sympatico.ca P.O. Box 69, Station C Goose Bay, NL A0P-1C0 (709) 896-6900 ext.6060 (709) 896-6916 (fax)

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Big Land Life

Gone Wild

“Two fox kits having a minor disagreement, just like human siblings do,” the submitter writes.

KEITH FITZPATRICK Labrador City, NL

Berry Delicious

Here’s proof of the annual fall trip to Double Mer for redberry picking.

MABEL GROVES Partridge Point, Double Mer, NL

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Mirror Image

A time and place for reflection on Shabogamo Lake in western Labrador.

MARILYN RYAN Bristol’s Hope, NL

Catch of the Day

The fishing was good this day on the Ashuanipi River, with the landing of this ouananiche (landlocked salmon).

MAKAILA HUDSON Labrador City, NL

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A new documentary is helping shed light on a painful part of Labrador’s past.

BY LINDA BROWNE

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Holly Andersen of Makkovik

knows what it means to feel at home and the beautiful sense of belonging that comes with it. She’s lived in the small community on Labrador’s north coast, in a part of town locally known as the “Hebron End,” her whole life, except for when she went away to college. But she always knew she’d return.

“I think it’s because all my family’s here. That was the main reason why I stayed,” says Holly, a photographer who enjoys capturing the beauty of the land, and her friends’ and family’s relationship with it.

Growing up, Holly heard murmurs about Hebron, a former settlement located north of Nain, “but I never knew the full story,” she says.

Established by Moravian missionaries in the 1830s, Hebron was once home to many northern Labrador Inuit. But in 1959, around the Easter holiday, church, government and health officials informed residents that the mission would be closed and all services would be shut down. (The news was delivered in the local church, believed to be a strategic move to stifle protest and debate.)

The decision was made without consulting local Inuit and sent shockwaves throughout the community. It resulted in the forced relocation of some 233 residents to the more southerly communities of Nain, Hopedale and Makkovik. Along the way, extended families were separated and many other challenges were encountered.

Top Left: Women waving during Hebron relocation process, 1959. Hettasch collection Bottom left: Dilapidated and abandoned Hebron building. National Film Board of Canada, 2022.

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Aerial shot of Hebron church and abandoned buildings. Birds Eye Inc. photo “Most of them only spoke Inuktitut, not very much English. So going to those towns, that [was] one thing against them already. And then not knowing the land... and just not having much access to food because they didn’t know the places to go hunting and fishing,” Holly explains. “And them not even knowing the reason of why they were being relocated – I just felt really bad for them that that happened. And it didn’t have to.”

Some of the relocatees also arrived in their new communities only to find that promised housing wasn’t available. Others moved into homes that

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were hastily built on the towns’ outskirts, further increasing their sense of isolation.

About five years ago, Holly moved into one of these small, white houses near her parents’ current home and her former childhood home (which was also built to house relocatees), knowing little of its connection to this part of Nunatsiavut’s past. So she went digging. When one of her elementary school teachers noticed a social media post from the National Film Board (NFB) seeking ideas for films, she encouraged Holly to submit something. She wrote a paragraph

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Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada, 2022.

Holly Andersen and Jessica Winters in front of Holly’s house. about the Hebron relocation and, a few weeks later, received an email telling her that her pitch was accepted.

A Fresh Focus This past spring, Holly’s short documentary, Hebron Relocation, debuted at the 2023 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, the largest festival of its kind in North America. It also featured at the Atlantic International Film Festival in Halifax, NS, in September. It’s part of the NFB’s Labrador Documentary Project, which supports Indigenous storytelling by working

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with first-time Labrador Inuit filmmakers to create and share Inuit stories from Inuit perspectives. Once it’s done with the festival run, the film will eventually be available for viewing on the NFB’s website.

Featuring archival footage, interviews with several descendants of relocatees from Hebron and nearby Nutak (which was resettled in 1956), and an interview with Hebron relocatee Gustav Semigak (an especially profound and moving experience for Holly), the 15-minute film is an emotional and enlightening journey. As someone who’s accustomed to being

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Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada, 2022.

Holly Andersen and Gus Semigak in Hopedale. a sensitive subject.”

The NFB and the film’s producers also provided support during the sometimes intense experience of making the documentary. “The NFB were there for me every part of the way, like, ‘Hey, if any of this gets too heavy for you, just let us know and we’ll get someone to talk to you about it,’” Holly says. During the pandemic, she adds, she and a couple of her producers read a chapter every week from the book Dispossessed: The Eviction of Inuit from Hebron, Labrador by the late Carol Brice-Bennett (who interviewed more than 50 relocatees) and discussed it afterwards.

“That was a really good process, too… to be able to talk to somebody throughout it really helped, I think, instead of me on my own.”

behind the camera rather than in front of it, working on the documentary was a different experience for Holly, and an eye-opening one that gave her a deeper understanding of the relocation, her community’s connection to it and how it still affects people to this day. She hopes it will help shed light for others as well.

“It wasn’t until I started the film that it was like, OK, let’s put all the pieces together now,” she says.

Considering the film’s subject matter and the intergenerational trauma caused by the relocation, Holly took a careful approach with her storytelling. “I wanted to learn and to be able to tell the story at the same time… I wanted to educate people about what happened in the gentlest way that I can because it is

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Where the Heart Is Today at Hebron, aside from the main mission building, mostly ruins remain at what was once a community that many proudly called home and which still holds a special place in people’s hearts. In 1976, it was declared a national historic site. In 2005, the provincial government formally apologized to those Inuit affected by the relocations of both Hebron and Nutak (followed by the unveiling of a monument in Hebron and in Nutak in 2009 and 2012 respectively). While it’s impossible to change the mistakes of the past, things like Holly’s documentary will ensure that the story of the people of Hebron, and their descendants, will live on for generations to come.

But Hebron Relocation isn’t just an important history lesson. It’s also a testament to the strength and resilience of those people who had their home stripped away and who forged a new path ahead through seemingly impossible obstacles.

Holly hopes her film will also give viewers a chance to walk in relocatees’ shoes, so to speak, and help increase empathy and understanding. She points to a particularly poignant quote from Janine Lightfoot, one of her

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interviewees and a former classmate whose grandmother was relocated from Hebron at 19 years old (something of which Holly was previously unaware).

“The part with the picture of Janine and her grandma, and she’s talking about not blaming her [for] how she responded to things because of what she went through – whenever I watch the film I’m like, ugh, that part always gets to me,” says Holly. “I really like the line where Janine says, ‘So we’re kinder to each other as Inuit,’ if you understand what happened.”

Holly concludes, “Be kinder to each other. That was a big thing that really sticks out for me with the film.”

Holly Andersen in a Hopedale church Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada, 2022.

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Award-winning actor, producer, host Shawn Doyle reflects on his formative years in Labrador West.

BY JANICE STUCKLESS

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Do you ever think back on your high school days and

wonder whatever happened to so-and-so? If you grew up in Wabush in the 1970s and ’80s, there’s a chance you went to school with Shawn Doyle. Remember the guy who was into theatre and moved away right after graduation?

Recently we tracked him down and had a great chat about his childhood in Wabush, his award-winning acting career and his newest project, podcasting.

“Looking back, I can see it was great to grow up in the country and be exposed to things like Ski-dooing, hanging out at cabins, skiing and everything that nature offered there,” Shawn says about Labrador West, adding, “It was real cold, I can tell you that. I wouldn’t be able to handle it now if I went back, that’s for sure.”

The Labrador winters made a lasting impression on him. “I have such strong memories of when I was really young leaving school, and it would already be getting dark at 3:30 in the afternoon, and we would go out and play on the ‘mountains.’” Shawn lived across from what was then the K-12 school, and all the parking lot snow would be plowed up into big hills.

“And we’d build tunnels in it – lucky we didn’t die. I have a really strong memory of going out after school and playing in the snow, and the stars already out.”

While his parents and their families were from Newfoundland – his dad hails from Avondale in the east,

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his mom from Lourdes in the west – Shawn grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins and a grandmother. “A lot of family ended up moving to Labrador during the boom, working in the mining there,” he explains.

A much younger Shawn, from his school days in Wabush

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Shawn as John A. Macdonald in the 2011 TV movie John A.: Birth of a Country

The Stage is Set Aside from mining, Labrador West is known for quality theatre, thanks to the efforts of the Carol Players, and Shawn’s family was at the centre of it.

His father, Jerry, and his Uncle Clar (singer-songwriter Damhnait Doyle’s dad) helped found the community theatre group in the 1960s. They and other family members were involved in everything from performing to set design and lighting.

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“My mom was involved in the Carol Players, too. She did the makeup for all the productions and she was the head of fundraising, as I remember it,” Shawn says. “I was reluctantly forced to participate by going doorto-door to sell raffle tickets when they would be raising money to go to the provincial festival every year.”

Such an upbringing inevitably influenced young Shawn. “I was really lucky because I grew up in a mining

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town and, from a cultural standpoint, there wasn’t a helluva lot going on. I was lucky enough to be exposed to the idea of theatre, and I was always encouraged by my parents that I could do whatever I wanted in life. So it wasn’t kind of an obvious route for anybody from that area to go and do that [pursue acting]. But I guess because I had that role model in my family, I was able to think that that was something I could possibly do.”

But oddly enough, his first onstage performance wasn’t with Carol Players. “Cindy Fleet was a teacher at JR Smallwood, and she came to me when I was maybe 13 or 14 and asked if I wanted to do a skit with her in some variety show that was happening at the school. It was a really weird skit, if I remember,” Shawn laughs.

“She was singing a song ‘Don’t Let Them Tear That Little Brown Building Down,’ and it was about her outhouse. I can’t remember what I did, if I sang chorus? I don’t know. I just remember coming on stage and having to act like a fool. That’s all I remember about that.”

After that Shawn joined the high

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school theatre group. While it put him in the spotlight, it didn’t necessarily put him with the “in” crowd in a mining town. “You can imagine it didn’t

Shawn’s acting sends him all around the world. A recurring role in the TV show Republic of Doyle allowed him to return to his home province. make me super popular that I wanted to be part of the theatre group,” Shawn says. “So I always felt like it wasn’t really my home in that way, so I really couldn’t wait to get away.”

Though he wanted to study theatre, he was told [“falsely as it turns out”] that he needed one year of general

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university studies first. “So [in 1986] I went to Carleton University for one year, basically did a lot of partying, got that out of my system, and was lucky enough then to be accepted by York University theatre department.”

It would be 12 years before Shawn returned to Wabush. By then an accomplished actor, he was invited to adjudicate a regional high school theatre festival. “It was a bizarre, surreal experience because, at that point, it was prior to the mines picking up again and it was not a good time economically there. The school that I went to was basically shuttered, or only working at partial capacity. A lot of things were shut down. I found it a little sad at that time,” Shawn recalls.

“But it was also very profound to be back and adjudicating a theatre festival at the Arts and Culture Centre – I was actually in the first high school drama festival that took place in that building. So that was very full circle.”

Acting Out His Dreams While Shawn admits to not quite fitting in at home, he faced a similar struggle when he got to Ontario.

“Particularly as an actor, I was trying to blend in. I was trying to catch up culturally. I grew up in a place

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where popular music was AC/DC and Def Leppard, and I’m in a place now where people are talking about the Smiths and B-52s. So I really felt like an odd man out there, just like I did back in Wabush. So I really worked to try to fit in to my new home,” he recalls about downplaying his Labrador roots in Ontario.

“Of course, ironically, what ended up happening was that my theatre teachers spent my whole time in theatre school trying to convince me to embrace where I was from and recognize how that made me unique. I don’t know if I ever really did that.”

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Shawn landed guest roles in a wide range of hit TV shows, from Desperate Housewives to 24, CSI: Crime Scene, Lost and Due South, and acted in movies such as The Long Kiss Goodnight. His breakout role was playing Joey Henrickson on the HBO drama Big Love (2006-2011). He appeared in 43 of the series’ 53 episodes. More recently, sci-fi fans may have seen him play Savidir Errinwright on The Expanse or Ruon Tarka in season four of Star Trek: Discovery. He’s played everything from a serial killer in Frequency to a Canadian prime minister in John A.: Birth of a Country.

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Sci-fi fans may recognize Shawn from his roles in The Expanse (above) and Star Trek: Discovery (right).

Shawn’s acting has earned him a slew of industry award nominations and several wins, including two Canadian Screen Awards (for a guest role in Cardinal, 2021, and the lead role in John A.: Birth of a Country, 2013); two ACTRA awards (for The Disappeared, 2013, and Bury the Lead, 2003); and a Gemini Award for his leading role in The Robber Bride (2007).

While he was starring in Big Love and living in Los Angeles, Shawn accepted his first acting role for a Newfoundland-based production. It

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was a long time coming and a bit of a watershed moment for this expat.

He’d been offered a few roles back home, but “mostly I turned them down,” Shawn says, not just because he wasn’t interested in those projects, but also “sometimes I think I was afraid I’d never be accepted if I went back there and did those projects, that people wouldn’t buy me as a Newfoundlander or they’d be judging me because I went away and now I’m back and trying to pretend to be something that I ran away from.”

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He took a chance on a film called Grown Up Movie Star, written and directed by Adrianna Maggs. “It was just a brilliant script,” Shawn says. “It wasn’t about Labrador, it was about a small community in eastern Newfoundland, but there was something about it… Something about that project made me really want to go back and just do it – jump off the cliff. I remember I had to have a particular type of accent, and I didn’t really have an accent growing up in Labrador, so I kinda had to learn how to do that.

And I was terrified of that, of being judged for that. But the whole experience was great, and after that I tried to work there as much as possible.” He’s since come home for roles on Republic of Doyle, Frontier and Away From Everywhere.

“After all these years, I can open my heart in a way that I couldn’t when I was younger. And I just love going back now.”

What’s Next These days, when he’s not on set, Shawn is at home by the water in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario. There he lives with his longtime partner, (playwright, actor and writer) PJ Prudat.

“I live on the water, but I don’t have

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a boat,” Shawn admits. And he has a Portuguese water dog, Gus, who had to be convinced to swim. He laughs, “He didn’t get the memo that he’s a water dog.” Shawn also has an adult son, Rhys, from a previous marriage to actress Allegra Fulton.

This year, Shawn branched out into an entirely new area of entertainment – podcasting. He produces and hosts Next, a positive podcast about growth, resilience and change.

You could say it was self-reflection that inspired the project. From streaming to AI, the entertainment business is “not the same business I grew up in,” Shawn says. “And I’ve found myself wondering if this is what I want to spend the rest of my life doing, frankly, and if there are other ways to be creative. The original idea was to talk with people from all walks of life to see how they were able to have the vision to see when a transition in their life was needed and how they had the curiosity or the courage to walk through that door when the door opened.”

While his guests have included actors and filmmakers, and his singersongwriter cousin, Damhnait, he also reaches outside his field and finds inspiration. “I’m talking with people who’ve changed their careers mid-

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stream to start a tiny house building company, for example, and people in the fitness stream who’ve committed to being a digital content creator and have made an incredible career out of programming, teaching and making videos about training. I’ve got a wide variety of people I’ll be talking about over time.”

Shawn’s passion for this new project carries clearly over the phone line.

You can hear the excitement in his voice, even as he shares that he never envisioned himself on this path.

“I never, ever, ever thought about doing this. I’m not the guy at the party who gets really interested in people and asks them questions and keeps the conversations going. I’ve never been that person – I’m actually quite an introvert, quite shy,” he admits.

So he’s both surprised and pleased when he hears how much listeners enjoy his podcast. “The response I’m getting implies to me that there’s not a lot of conversations happening where people feel they can have a conversation that’s honest, straightforward, not tinged

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with political stuff or hotbed issues that will make things really tense. I just really dig it.”

He adds, “I can’t even describe why it happened or why I still want to do it. It makes me feel like an artist; it makes me feel like I’m doing the purpose of what an artist is in the first place, which is exploring who people are.”

You can listen to Next with Shawn Doyle wherever you listen to podcasts, or stream it with video on his YouTube channel, “The Next Podcast.”

Shawn and his pal, Gus

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Kevin Pardy reflects on his long career as a forest entomologist

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Kevin Pardy worked as a research technician with the

Canadian Forest Service for more than 35 years. His specialty was entomology – the study of insects – and by the time he retired in 1994, he had helped amass a collection of more than 2,800 specimens in the Forest Insect and Disease Survey Museum at the Newfoundland Forest Research Centre in St. John’s, NL. Throughout his long career, Kevin crisscrossed the province from Corner Brook to Nain studying insects and sharing his expertise. Along with all those bugs, Kevin collected many happy memories, especially about the beauty and friendliness of Labrador.

Starting Out Kevin’s foray into the field of entomology came by chance. Dr. William Carroll, the pioneering regional director of forestry research at the forest entomology lab in Corner Brook, hired him for the summer.

“I guess it was 1956,” Kevin recalls.

“I was only in Grade 10; I didn’t know anything about insects. But Dr. Carroll said to me, ‘I’d like for you to work for the summer,’ so I went over there to the lab. It was the best move I ever made.”

After studying forestry at university, Kevin got down to work collecting insects. Dr. Carroll had established the province’s first insectary – a place where insects are kept, exhibited and studied – at George’s Lake on the island’s west coast. In the late 1950s and early ’60s, Kevin and other technicians combed the forests of Hall’s Bay, South Brook and Badger, study-

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ing the incredible amount and diversity of insect species found there.

There are different methods entomologists use to collect insect specimens, including tree sampling, light traps, insect nets and traps in the ground.

“Tree sampling: you put a mat under a tree, like a blanket, and you hit it with a stick and the insects will fall down to the mat,” Kevin says.

“Sometimes we’d bore into the tree to get the small insects – just the bark, just a little bit, to get the insects that were there. Traps in the ground: you have a square box, dig a hole and the insects go down into the tray.”

Exploring Labrador In Labrador there are 13 million acres of productive forest. Incredible stands of black spruce spread across the valleys of the Churchill, Alexis, Eagle and Kaipokok rivers. Forestry management in the 1960s and ’70s was

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focused on protecting the productive forests from fire and insect damage. The Forest Rangers carried out aerial surveys around Labrador West, Churchill Falls, Otter Creek and Eagle River from a base in Happy ValleyGoose Bay. “I went up to Labrador in the summers when the rangers would go,” Kevin recalls. “The forestry personnel, they were really good to us. In the helicopter, Ronnie O’Brien was our pilot and I’d sit in the back with the ranger, Wally Sutton; sometimes he’d be there with a roll of maps. They were mapping the different areas and surveying the insect damage that was there.

“Now I’ll tell you a story,” he chuckles. “In certain places, we’d land and we’d get out. One place, I got out, collected some insects and got back in the chopper, and I guess the door didn’t close all the way. So we took off again, and when we landed in another spot Ronnie said to me ‘Kevin, did you know your door was open?’ I said, ‘What?! How do you know?’ He said, ‘I could tell by the instrument panel.’”

Minor mishaps aside, Kevin considers the trips he took to Labrador to be the highlight of his career.

“I loved flying,” he says. “Labrador is a beautiful, beautiful country. Flying over the river valleys and the scenery is beautiful. There’s just something about it. I loved it – I could never get enough of it.”

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W.C. Parrott (L) and Kevin Pardy (R) at George’s Lake in June 1958 Labrador is a fascinating place for insects. Stouts and blackflies, tiger beetles and wasps, ants, mites and 44 different types of butterflies are among the hundreds of insect species that call the area home.

“We’d stay down in Happy ValleyGoose Bay in the hotel. In the mornings I’d go down and set up a light trap. That would collect until the next morning, and then I’d come back and pin up the moths and insects that we got,” Kevin says. The specimens were carefully preserved, affixed to a pinning board and labelled with pertinent data to include in the Forest Insect Museum’s collection.

“We saw a lot of yellow sulphur butterflies,” Kevin recalls. “Moths, beetles, I can’t remember every one of them, but they were added to our collection – all of our trays in the cabinets in the Forestry Centre in Pleasantville in St. John’s.”

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Way Up North

The students’ biological survey was a great success. More than 400 new species of insects were identified and added to the collection at the Forest Research Centre.

Kevin recalls his journeys to Labrador’s northern communities with great fondness. “I remember how well I was treated when I stayed with Jim and Susie Andersen in Makkovik and with Garfield Flowers in Hopedale,” he says.

“And I remember the manager of the inn in Nain who told me I would have the same room as Darryl Sittler, the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs! He had just left after a fishing expedition.”

Back home on the island, Kevin continued sharing his love of bugs with students. During National Forest Week each year he travelled to schools in Stephenville, Deer Lake, Grand Falls-Windsor, Gander, Clarenville and St. John’s showing off the insects to curious young learners.

At the end of the day, Kevin’s thankful for his career and the opportunities he had to visit Labrador. “When I retired, there were 2,800 insects listed in a publication we put out. But you know, I didn’t have a job,” he laughs. “I had a paid hobby. I couldn’t wait to get to work.”

Kevin travelled to his job sites by helicopter. “I loved flying,” he says.

During the summers of 1980, ’81 and ’82, Kevin was in charge of a special biological survey using light traps conducted by the Forestry Centre.

The project’s aim was to study the occurrence and seasonal distribution of forest insects in Northern Labrador. High school students were hired in Makkovik, Hopedale and Nain under a federal Youth Summer Work Program to learn entomology hands-on.

“I went up to the schools at the beginning of the summer, and I took the students insect collecting and trained them on and left some collecting material with them,” Kevin explains. “They monitored the light traps and collected from June to August, and then I’d go back and get the boxes they gave me.”

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After two battles with cancer, MP Yvonne Jones has lots of fight in her yet.

BY PAM PARDY

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Many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians feel they know Yvonne Jones personally.

“I’ve been around, first with journalism and then with provincial and federal politics, for a long time. I think many who hear my name or see me around just feel like they know me on a personal level,” she begins with a chuckle.

Yvonne, a member of Parliament who was first elected to the House of Commons in a by-election on May 13, 2013, represents the district of Labrador and is a member of the Liberal Party caucus. She’s quite busy as parliamentary secretary to both the minister of Natural Resources and the minister of Northern Affairs. When we chatted recently, Yvonne was settled in Woody Point, NL, a beautiful historic town in the heart of Gros Morne National Park, joining her fellow Liberal caucus members who represent Newfoundland and Labrador. She’s back to work after taking a break to battle cancer, for the second time.

“I was lucky enough to ring the bell twice,” she says.

Lucky? Yes, she replies, “Lucky… I say that not because I feel lucky I got cancer, but because I feel lucky that I beat it. And, you know, everybody talks about winning the lottery, and I just wake up every day and feel like I’ve won the two biggest lotteries that you could ever win in life. And that is, I’ve been given another chance, yet again.”

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The Fight of Her Life Yvonne was first diagnosed with breast cancer at 42. At the time, in 2010, she was at the height of her political career. “I was then leader of the Liberal Party in Newfoundland and Labrador, the first woman to lead the party. I was up against a mighty giant of a premier in Danny Williams, who was so loved and embraced by the people of the province, and I was enjoying every minute of it. Then cancer really, really screwed up my plans.”

At first, she felt sorry for herself, she admits. But that didn’t last long.

“When I walked into the chemo lab and when I walked into that doctor’s office, and I saw so many young women with children and with young families that were fighting for their lives, I suddenly felt in my own way that I was one of the lucky ones. I wasn’t the one that was trying to nurse a nine-month-old child while fighting cancer… Suddenly you start feeling that what has been the most terrible thing that happened in your life is not so terrible. When you sit next to someone who’s dealing with so many other things besides the disease itself, your self-pity trip doesn’t last very long.”

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Along that journey, Yvonne says she met many “fantastic people who had tremendous resilience and courage to take on that battle and to win it.”

She adds, “Of course, I met many who fought with a vengeance and didn’t win that battle. And that was very sad. So when I say that I wake up every day and I feel very fortunate to have won that battle, I sincerely mean it.”

Yvonne says ringing that bell at the end of cancer treatment “means there’s hope. It means there will be a future. It means continuing to live

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A Strong Voice your best life every single day. And for Yvonne has been involved in politics me, I feel tremendously fortunate that now for 28 years, and it’s how most I can do exactly that.” people know of her. Prior to that she Now 55, Yvonne knows how prewas a journalist, first with the Evening cious good health and peace of mind Telegram and then with the Canadian are. She was diagnosed with cancer for the second time in September 2022. She temporarily stepped away Yvonne in Ottawa from her political duties to undergo treatment, admittedly returning to work before she perhaps should have. But she had her reasons. “When you go through any serious illness in your life, it’s not just the physical elements of it, it’s the mental elements of it. It’s the impact it has on you both emotionally and mentally as well. And for me, that was a Press. When she took a research job fine line through both cancer experiwith Memorial University… “that got ences. I knew when I was ready to me back home to Labrador, and that return to work, and I knew that even was where I wanted to be.” though physically my body would not Yvonne worked for the federal take 12, 14-hour workdays, I also government at the onset of the cod knew that mentally I needed to be moratorium, helping displaced engaged. I needed to be back on the workers and becoming an employjob feeling that I was making major ment counsellor. This experience contributions to things that I am very drove her into politics. passionate about.”

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“I realized that people needed a strong voice, they needed stronger representation, and the government at the time just wasn’t paying attention to the needs in the communities in Labrador. Nothing had really changed since I had grown up there, so I guess that was my foray into politics,” Yvonne says.

She enjoyed her time in provincial politics, she adds. “The highlight of my career was building the TransLabrador Highway through Southern Labrador.”

She ran federally and won her seat in 2013, and later worked a deal with the federal government to pave that same highway. “Today I enjoy a fully

“I showed up in the House of Assembly and I was told by everyone, ‘You’ll be in the corner.’ People said, ‘You’ll never hear from her again.’”

She served as mayor of her hometown of Mary’s Harbour from 1991 to 1996. That year she made her move for provincial politics. While she lost the Liberal nomination, she ran as an independent candidate and won. “I showed up in the House of Assembly and I was told by everyone, ‘You’ll be in the corner.’ People said, ‘You’ll never hear from her again,’” Yvonne recalls. “I knew I had to diffuse that myth by doing real work and showing everyone that I could deliver for people in the district. And I wasted no time in doing that.”

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paved highway, as do everyone else in Labrador... and obviously it has changed lives for people, giving communities opportunities they never had before. And it has positioned us for future development in a way that we could not even have imagined 20 years ago.”

Yvonne says she feels the relationship between the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the federal government has improved over the last 10 years, and that hasn’t happened accidentally.

“People have chosen to become

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Yvonne this past summer with Saqamaw Misel Joe of Miawpukek First Nation (centre) and her Liberal colleagues from NL, (from left) MPs Joanne Thompson, Gudie Hutchings and Churence Rogers. more educated and more understanding of each other. The government has been willing to listen and learn more about the role that Labrador plays in this province.

And that has taken a lot of work by people like myself and other leaders across Labrador to bring that level of information and education to every table that we sit at.”

She adds, “Has the sentiment around separation disappeared, of Labrador separating from Newfoundland? No, I will tell you, it has not disappeared, and it will be generational in terms of that aspect. And the reason is, as much progress as we have made, there’s still work to do.”

Yvonne believes the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will always be stronger together. “We have to continue to be respectful towards each other and to ensure that people have equal treatment and equal

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opportunity, no matter where they live in the province.”

Enduring Love for Labrador Yvonne loves living in her home province, and she enjoys the best that Labrador has to offer when it comes to lifestyle.

“I’m an avid snowmobiler. I love winter. I love the cold. When everyone else is going south, I’m buying the warmest snowsuit I can get, and I’m getting ready for a snowmobile trip.

And that’s what I love about Labrador,” she confesses.

It’s always been home, she adds. “I grew up there. Culture is so important to me. Sharing culture, and embracing

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it, is so important. It’s really the core of who I am as a person. I grew up on the land and my father was a fisherman. My mother worked outside the home, which was kind of uncommon back in those days, but I had a really good education on the land and on the water, and that is really where my passions are.”

Yvonne is also an avid angler and salmon fisher. “If you ever want to go fishing in Labrador, you give me a call,” she adds with a laugh.

“Outside is where I restore my own physical and mental well-being. It’s a comforting place, a healing place.

Yvonne supporting her constituents, from [Being active and outside] (top to bottom) young athletes at the 2023 are the things that keep me well and keep me strong – Indigenous Games to community stakeholders and enterprising business owners. and they also keep me

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grounded. Labradorians are strongly connected and linked to the land and the water. And that’s where we find not just healing, but it’s where we find strength. It’s the way we’re raised.

And to this day, I feel most happy and content in those environments.”

Around the Next Corner Yvonne has a message she’d like to share: Life can be difficult, but just keep putting your best foot forward each and every day.

“Sometimes we tend to think that we can’t do something because it’s hard, but we can do anything. Have the will and the strength to wake up every day despite how difficult that day is and say, ‘I can do this and I’m going to do this,’ and just keep going.

Keep going through every single journey of your life.”

Even in your worst moment, there’s always hope, she adds. While facing cancer for the first time and feeling very low, her mother suggested she read through some of the get-well cards she had received.

“I took this one card. I opened it. I looked at this gorgeous painting by Linda Coles that was on the front of the card, and the title of it was ‘Just Around the Corner.’ That was the name of her painting. And I looked at it for a long time. It was this old salt box with a little path going around the corner of the house.”

She connected with the image instantly. “‘I just need to get around

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this corner,’ is what I felt. And from that day on, everything I have looked at in my life that has been difficult, or looked impossible, or felt tremendously draining, I have said, ‘You can do this. It’s just around the corner.’”

It gave her inspiration. It gave her courage. It gave her determination.

“It put everything in context for me that no matter how difficult things are, or no matter what you’re dealing with today, just around the corner there’s something better that is waiting. You just need to get there.”

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Chilling Out Caught in the Moment

“My beautiful ounaniche caught in the Ashuanipi River,” the submitter writes. “Penny & Wagz were pretty excited, too.”

DEANNE HUSSEY Labrador City, NL

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Frosty Fun

“It’s not May 2-4 camping if it’s not snowing in the Big Land!” writes the submitter.

NICOLE DOWNEY Labrador City, NL

Birds of a Feather

“Sisters that hunt together stay together,” the submitter says about this photo of their ptarmigan hunting adventure in Labrador City.

KATIE RICE Labrador City, NL

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Pleasure Harbour Days

BY STEWART PYE Lodge Bay, Labrador (Submitted by Janice Green of Carbonear, NL)

I remember the days when we were just boys Up in Pleasure Harbour, how we suffered the flies.

When the weather was damp, the mosquitoes would come And many a day you could fill an oil drum.

There were no idle moments. We had plenty to do.

Saw wood, chop up splits and bring water, too.

There were dogs to be fed and fish to be dried, With our fingers so tender that we almost cried.

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We used to go trouting across the cove in the brook.

Sometimes we caught them without either hook.

Out on the point we would go berry picking.

If you went down in the beach, you would sure get a licking.

We were never allowed to stray far from the door.

If we went on the wharf we were grounded for sure.

For entertainment there was not much to do.

We killed mice by the hundreds, and we caught sculpins, too.

Sometimes we went down to the Cape for the mail.

If the water was calm we might see an odd whale.

Up in the back cove, the ducks they were plenty.

Many a time my father killed twenty.

With the bakeapples ripe, we all took to the hill With boilers and buckets and tin cans to fill.

The time that we spent on the hill no one knows, But we picked enough berries to buy a new stove.

When the fish was all dried and the twine stowed away, And everything was ready to move in the bay, We would move to the Cape for a month in the fall.

We would meet some new faces and all have a ball.

Now to conclude and to finish my song It’s not really short and it’s not really long.

When the day’s work was over and our prayers were all said, My mother would sing as she tucked us in bed.

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One reader’s very early experience on a Labrador coastal boat

BY BONNIE LOWE Shoal Harbour, NL

It was the second week of December some years ago when the coastal boat, SS Kyle, stopped in to Mary’s Harbour to deliver goods and pick up passengers. Boats like these were the link to small communities around Newfoundland and Labrador in the 20th century. The ships were too big to dock at the littlest community wharves, so everything being delivered and picked up had to board a small open boat to transfer to and from the Kyle while she lay at anchor.

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On this cold evening there were a few men, a few older women, and an attractive young woman holding a little baby bundled in a load of warm blankets. The small open boat approached the Kyle and pulled up alongside the ladder that passengers had to climb up in order to board the bigger boat. The men stood to assist the women first. The wind gently rocked the small boat but harshened the cold on their faces. The young woman was afraid to climb the ladder with the baby in her arms, so while one man held the baby, others assisted the mother up the ladder. Then the man, the tallest of them all, carried the baby up the ladder with ease. Soon all were in the warm common room of the big boat.

The ship’s whistle blew and the engines roared into action as the SS Kyle prepared to depart Mary’s Harbour and head to Port Hope Simpson. The crew helped serve hot tea, the baby was quiet and the sailing was smooth.

The young woman was my mother. The baby was me. Father was stationed in Port Hope Simpson with the Newfoundland Ranger Force at the time, and in a couple of hours I would meet him for the first time and our lives as a family would begin.

I’m a grandmother now. Mother and Father are gone, and the SS Kyle, after years of coastal service, ran aground in Harbour Grace and remains there as silent witness to a lost era. Whenever I see that ship, my mind goes immediately back to that journey she took me on so long ago.

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SS Kyle

History By the Numbers

1913

Year the SS Kyle was built at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England

11

Years she spent as a Gulf ferry between NL and NS

33 Years spent as a Labrador coastal

boat

1927 Year hired to search for the

American monoplane Old Glory, which crashed while trying to fly across the Atlantic Ocean

1942 Year she helped rescue

American sailors from the Truxton and Pollux shipwrecks off St. Lawrence in a February storm

1959 Renamed the Arctic Eagle 1961 Name changed back to the Kyle 4 Years spent as a sealing vessel 1967 Year she broke her mooring and ran aground in Harbour Grace

$4,000

What the NL government paid for her in 1973

11Number of Labrador communities

serviced by coastal boats today (plus the ferry from Newfoundland to Blanc Sablon)

12 Number of coastal boats in the

Alphabet fleet, of which the Kyle was one

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With ACOA’s help, Tacora Resources Inc. is one step closer to opening a new processing plant

Earlier this year, Labrador MP Yvonne Jones announced a $1.25-million repayable federal loan to Tacora Resources Inc., owner of the Scully Mine in Wabush. The funding will go towards the research and planning of a manganese processing operation that falls in line with the federal government’s interest in fostering a greener economy.

Manganese is one of several minerals that are needed in the production of clean technology such electric vehicle batteries and solar panels. The race to mine them and get them to market is the gold rush of the 21st century. It just so happens that Tacora has a pile of manganese, a byproduct of processing iron ore.

In 2022, Tacora received $3.3 million from ACOA through the Jobs and Growth Fund, established to boost COVID-19 economic recovery efforts. With that and its own $6.2-million investment, Tacora added two new manganese reduction circuit (MRC) process lines to remove manganese and silica, and produce a higher quality iron ore.

The more refined ore helps reduce emissions created in the manufacture of steel. Now Tacora plans to build a new manganese sulfate

Tacora Reesources Inc. photo

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purification plant to help meet Canada’s need for the critical mineral.

“Atlantic Canada plays an important role in building a green and digital economy while enhancing Canada’s global competitiveness. This investment with Tacora Resources Inc. will help ensure that critical mineral development moves forward, contributing to clean growth within our region’s mining industry,” said the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, then minister of Official Languages and minister responsible for ACOA, in the June 27, 2023, press release.

Said MP Jones, “Newfoundland and Labrador is rich in critical minerals, having 24 on Canada’s list of 31 critical minerals. Our investment with Tacora Resources Inc. will assist critical mineral development in our region and help green our supply chain within the mining sector.”

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Joe Broking is the director, president and CEO of Tacora Resources Inc. He commented, “With its vast continuous supply of rich manganese tailings, Tacora Resources is working on a plan to become a major contributor to the global critical mineral supply chain that will play a vital role in the electrification of the auto industry. We are pleased to partner with ACOA to help facilitate the feasibility and development of a manganese sulfate quality product that will be sustainable for both Tacora and the electric vehicle market.”

Tacora, a private entity owned by a group of global mining investors, purchased the mothballed Scully Mine in 2017. By 2019, the company had produced its first shipment of iron ore concentrate. It has customers across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The company employs just over 400 local residents, 28 per cent of them women.

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The Newfoundland and Labrador bakeapple is a beloved berry in different parts of the world, where it goes by different names. In Alaska it is called the aqpik or low-bush salmonberry. In Europe its common name is cloudberry, but it’s also known as nordic berry, knotberry or knoutberry, and averin or evron.

While the fruit’s appearance is similar to a blackberry or raspberry, the plant is a member of the rose family. It grows wild in bogs, marshes and treeless tundra. These berries, high in vitamin C, seem to be more precious, as they fetch a better price for berrypickers and bakeapple products generally cost more to buy than other wild berry products. In Norway, from 1970 to 2004, it was illegal to pick unripe bakeapples and it continues to be frowned upon. Bakeapples are ripe when they turn from red to light orange, and are usually ready for picking in midto late August. Around this time, the annual Bakeapple Folk Festival is held in Forteau, southern Labrador.

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Bakeapple Gastrique

1/4 cup honey 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or sherry vinegar 1/2 cup bakeapples (if using thawed berries, no need to drain) 1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste Freshly ground black pepper to taste Simmer honey and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. It will begin to thicken. Add the bakeapples and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until the sauce becomes syrupy (a little thinner than real maple syrup). Remove from heat and add salt and pepper. Serve warm over roast chicken (see photo) or over roasted fish, pork, vegetables such as sweet potatoes or squash, or cheese-filled phyllo pastry hot from the oven. When cooled to room temperature, it’s nice drizzled over cheese such as brie, camembert, blue or ricotta.

Gastrique will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator – gently reheat to remove the chill before serving.

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photo finish

Enjoy it While it Lasts

These benches in St. Lewis won’t be empty for long with this view!

ROB NORMAN PHOTOGRAPHY Bay Roberts, NL

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